Far Away
by Colt
Summary: Just another MBC mission, just another day masking his feelings. Guess you never really know when everything's about to change... How can he seem so far away when he's standing next to you? Chris/Danny -Completed-
1. Chapter 1

_Enter standard disclaimer: Monster Buster Club is not mine. "Can the monster busters come out and play?"_

**Far Away – Chapter One**

"Ow ow ow!"

The clubhouse door swung open as Sam rolled her eyes. "Come on Chris, it can't hurt that much." But she held the door as Chris limped in, one arm slung around Danny's shoulders for support.

"Well it does!" Chris complained, his other hand going to grab at Danny's red-lined armor as he shifted his weight again.

"Those Zerellian worms weigh a ton, Sam! I'm surprised Chris' foot isn't flatter than a pancake!" Cathy waved her arms, nearly smacking Chris in the back of the head with the vial of captured alien.

Danny chuckled as he helped Chris limp across the clubhouse. "Wonder what kind of syrup you'd serve with that pancake." Chris smacked him lightly on the arm before wincing again.

"Not that freezing Zerellian jelly, that's for sure." Sam snatched the vial out of Cathy's hand before Cathy forgot she was holding it. "C'mon Cath, let's go put this 'heavy' weight away."

"Here ya go buddy boy." Danny caught a chair with his boot and nudged it to face them. Chris eased himself into the chair slower than necessary, reluctantly releasing his hold on Danny at the last second.

As Chris squirmed to get comfortable, Danny morphed out of his buster armor, zapping back instantly into his street clothes. He turned to Chris as the darker-skinned boy struggled to reach down to his boot, then knelt next to the chair. "Lemme."

"Careful!" Chris caught Danny's eye roll as he gently worked the boot off Chris' foot. He was about to make a smart-aleck reply but it turned into a hiss of pain before the boot finally slid off.

"Think it's broken?" Danny asked as he pulled Chris' sock off as well.

"Doesn't hurt that much," Chris mumbled as Danny gently felt his foot, ignoring the slight twinges of pain rather than tell Danny to stop.

"Hey, I broke my two littlest toes once and barely even noticed," Danny replied as Sam and Cathy returned, both in street clothes themselves.

"I remember that! It may have been drowned out by the pain of being thrown into that wall," Cathy supplied helpfully.

"Playing Cinderella, Danny?" Sam teased as she bent over to inspect for herself. Danny immediately let go of Chris' foot, and Chris stopped the scowl aimed at her before it reached his face. "That doesn't look that bad, Chris. I'll see if Mr. Smith has something to wrap it with to keep it from moving."

"D'ya need a hospital man?" Danny asked as the clubhouse door swung shut again.

"No, but a Tylenol would be nice," Chris mumbled.

"I doubt Mr. Smith's got anything that doesn't involve some ET ingredients, but I can check." Before Chris could protest, Danny was out the clubhouse door too.

Chris watched the door finished swinging shut before he sighed heavily and stood up, wobbling slightly before he morphed out of his buster armor. As soon as he finished, complete with his sneaker lying on the floor, Cathy said, "I thought you couldn't stand."

Chris jerked, almost falling over as he stood unsteadily with most his weight on his good foot. "Well, I… it didn't feel…I had to get out of my armor," he finished lamely. Cathy's curious eyes roved over him, her eyebrow raised and face screwed up in a look of concentration.

"I know what's going on with you," she announced. "You're faking that it's worse than it is."

Chris froze completely. The last thing he needed was for Cathy to find out – sometimes he wondered how on earth she kept her species a secret from the world. "Cathy, don't-"

"You want to get your hands on some Rhapsodian medical supplies and analyze them, don't you?" She grinned widely and stuck out her chest. "Well you don't need to pretend to be hurt to do that! We can just get em out!" She ran over to the computer and started typing in commands.

"Cathy, no, wait-" Chris tried to move to stop her.

Danny and Sam opened the clubhouse door on a weird scene of Chris sprawled out on the floor, his leg caught in some strange contraption attached to the main computer that Cathy desperately tugged at.

"Get it off!" Chris screeched.

"Sorry! I think the tissue analyzer works different on humans!"

"What are you two doing?" Sam demanded as she dropped the wrapping she was holding and ran to help.

"Hit the red button!" Danny suggested as he joined Cathy, his fingers digging into the opening suctioning around Chris' calf.

"There is no red button!"

Chris cried out as his leg got jolted about and shocked again, before he saw the wire running to the computer. He twisted and grabbed it, yanking hard until it unplugged and the machine powered down. Chris gasped as the spasming stopped and the analyzer fell open onto the floor.

Danny jabbed a finger at Chris' red, swollen foot. "Uh… that looks even worse than before."

"I'm sorry Chris!" Cathy cried, her hands flying around her head and back in front to cover her mouth.

"Now you need to go to the doctor," Sam announced, pulling Chris off the floor. Danny moved to help, and Chris reached for him to steady himself completely on one leg. "Let's get you home."

"We'll tell your parents we were experimenting," Danny suggested. Chris gave him a surprised look. "With my new scooter."

"Oh. Y-yeah. That'll work," Chris agreed as Danny tried to help him move forward. Chris stopped and hissed sharply at the intensified pain now shooting straight up his leg.

"Chris can't even walk now?" Cathy asked in a wavery voice, on the verge of crying.

"It's okay Cath!" Danny reassured her, shifting Chris to behind him. Chris wobbled in his flamingo impression as he started to ask, "What are you-"

"Alley-oop!" Danny hoisted Chris onto his back and Chris yelped in surprise. "Dude, you have to hang on or we're both going down." Chris hesitated, then wrapped his arms around Danny's shoulders and buried his face into the crook between his shoulder and Danny's neck to hide the blush he could feel heating his cheeks. "I'll get him home to his parents, and see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay, we'll analyze this jelly then!" Sam called after them before turning to soothe Cathy. Chris didn't dare open his mouth to say good-bye as he and Danny left the clubhouse. Instead, he shut his eyes and inhaled as deep as he could without making a sound, trying to memorize the smell and feel of Danny so close while he had the chance.

**To be Continued**

**AN: Figured there needed to be some good Chris/Danny love on here. I update faster when I know there's an audience… so please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Far Away – Chapter Two_

"Check out the gimp!"

Chris cursed under his breath at Mark as he struggled to get his new crutches up the steps of the middle school. He couldn't keep his knee bent constantly to keep his injured foot high enough, so the toe of his brace kept catching on the steps and throwing him off balance. He could still hear Mark and his buddies laughing at him, and forcefully swung himself to the next step when his brace caught again and he lurched. He would have greeted the steps face-first if a familiarly purple clad arm hadn't swung out and caught him in time.

"Whoa!" Danny helped him regain his balance. "You okay there Chris?"

"I'm fine," Chris automatically replied in a grumpy voice that said he was anything _but_ fine.

"So it's broken?" Danny asked, looking down at Chris' brace.

"Just sprained. My mom says I'm never allowed near your 'scooter' again." Chris made a face. "I had to beg them not to put me in a cast."

Danny made a funny noise then, and Chris glanced at his friend to see the strange look on his face – a mixture of guilt, sadness, and something else Chris couldn't identify. "I'm sorry," Danny mumbled. "If I had been more careful yesterday, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Chris couldn't take that look on Danny's face, so out of place it almost hurt to see. "Hey man, it's okay," Chris reassured, risking his balance to put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "It was an accident, and it wasn't your fault at all. That thing was just… butt-ugly."

Danny smiled at that, adding, "And slimey."

Chris could almost sigh with relief to see the smile again. "Seriously! I thought it had a massive cold or something!" His hand went back to his crutch and he started up the steps again. Danny wrapped an arm around Chris to help steady him. Chris could barely focus on the task at hand, his attention caught on the feeling of that warm arm offered without a second thought.

The moment was ruined only two steps from the top when Mark and his two lackeys passed and Ralph jeered, "How _gay_."

Danny's arm jerked free of Chris' waist. Chris wobbled on his crutches a second, more sensitive at the loss of contact than support.

"I'm going to pound him one day," Danny hissed under his breath as Chris finished the last two steps solo.

"And I will hold him for you," Sam said cheerfully as she walked up, Cathy tagging along behind her singing something to herself. Sam looked at Chris, taking in the brace and crutches with a sigh. "Looks like you're on intel only for a while, Chris."

"What?" Chris stared at her in shock. "But we're still trying to find that worm's nest!"

"And it won't help us at all with you slipping and sliding all over their jelly on one good leg!"

"John can take care of the base-"

"No," Sam said forcefully, then changed the subject as they headed down the hallway. "So are you guys ready for science class today?"

"Why, are we dissecting more frogs and have to listen to Cathy scream again?" Danny joked, keeping pace with her and Cathy while Chris struggled to keep up on his crutches.

"You know-" Sam started, and Cathy spoke right over her, stamping her foot in protect. "They look just like the Robbotids from our neighboring planet! How was I supposed to know?"

"Because this is Earth?" Danny suggested in a teasing tone. Cathy stuck out her tongue at him, and Chris smiled at the completely 'human' habit she had picked up.

"-had to get permission slips for it," Sam finished saying.

"That's today?" Danny asked.

Chris, discovering that coordinating crutches was difficult, had fallen far enough behind he didn't get to ask _what_ was today because of the bell. He certainly found out later when he had finally dragged himself to science class just before the tardy bell. He sat down at his desk he shared with Danny, noticing something strange about the class.

He leaned the crutches against the desk and shifted about on the lab stool. "Where are all the gir-" he started to ask, before Mr. Fusster cut him off.

"Settle down class," he started in his weird, nasal voice. "Okay, I got permission slips from everyone's parents this semester, so we're all clear to watch the film."

There was a general murmuring of senseless talk as Mr. Fusster went over to the dusty VCR and television set mounted in the wall and turned them both on. As the title came up, something ending with "And You", Chris' brain recalled the paper his parents had to sign saying he was allowed to see a film with controversial content.

When the film started to explain that 'special time in life', Chris knew he wanted to be sharing a desk with _anyone_ other than Danny. As it went on to show changes in the body, Chris wanted to be anywhere but the same _room_ as Danny.

Who leaned over with a snicker to whisper, "Do you think it really looks like that?", his hot breath against Chris' neck.

Okay, Chris was ready to die any moment.

He shut his eyes tightly and tried to will the image from his mind, but more kept arriving. Danny was his _best friend_, and sitting right next to him! He shouldn't be thinking-

Danny leaned over to probably whisper something again, and combined with the image Chris currently entertained, his brain short-circuited.

Chris jerked away from Danny, tumbling off the stool and knocking over his crutches with a yelp of pain as his foot banged against the table leg. Chris grabbed at the brace as his foot throbbed, distracting him from his current…problem.

"Chris!" Danny was on the floor next to him in an instant.

"Christopher, are you okay?" Mr. Fusster asked into his nasal monotone. Chris opened his mouth to reply but it came out as a slight mewl of pain.

"He hurt his leg pretty bad yesterday, Mr. Fusster," Danny explained, moving to help Chris up. Chris curled in a ball on himself harder, knowing he would die of embarrassment if he stood up right now – watching _this _film, with _Danny_'s arms around him.

"Chris?" Danny asked curiously.

"Sorry, just… hit it," Chris offered as a lame excuse. "Hurts." He could hear Mark stage-whispering "Gimp!" somewhere. At least the pain was making his other problem go away.

"You may go to the nurse to get an icepack," Mr. Fusster excused as he started to rewind the tape to when Chris had interrupted.

Anything to get out of this bad situation waiting to happen? Gladly.

"I'm going to go with him Mr. Fusster, he has trouble with the stairs." Danny gathered up his crutches for him, and finally Chris let him help him get up. He limped his way out of the classroom, acting up the pain for the benefit of Mr. Fusster, with Danny pausing to hold the door open.

As soon as it shut behind them, Danny stepped in front of Chris again. "C'mon, it's going to take you forever to get to the nurse's office this way."

Chris hesitated, weighing the chances of another problem emerging while being that close to Danny against the chance of being that close again. He ignored the part of his brain screaming a logical argument against it as he shifted around his clutches and Danny picked him. It was a little awkward as Chris held on to his crutches, but Danny's hands gripped tightly into his thighs and they made do. Chris hid his face against in Danny's neck as they made their way down the hallway and stairs.

"Does it hurt bad?" Danny asked.

"Not really," Chris confessed. He loved how Danny smelled – like clean earth and cut grass.

"Just wanted to get out of that film?" Danny teased, and Chris nodded against his shoulder. "Wonder if the girls are watching it too." He chuckled. "I wanna see the look on Wendy's face!"

The little bubble of contentment Chris had been building popped like a balloon at that name. He tried to mask it by commenting back, "Bet Cathy's wondering just how weird our human physiology is." The joke fell a little flat to his own ears. But Danny just asked, "Phys-what?"

"Body structure," Chris offered as they reached the nurse's office. Danny set him down, and Chris let go with some reluctance.

"Want me to stay with you?" Danny asked.

"No," Chris replied shortly, still nursing his hurt feelings. "Go back to class Danny, I'm fine on my own." Danny looked at him with a weird expression Chris couldn't even try to name.

"O…kay." Danny nodded slowly, but didn't leave until Chris limped his way into the office. The nurse looked up at him.

"Hurts?" she asked.

"Yeah," Chris mumbled before realizing she meant his leg.

**To be Continued**

**Review for faster updates!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

_Far Away - Chapter Three_

"This stuff is colder than ice!"

Chris shouldered the clubhouse door open and swung his way in. Danny, Cathy, and Sam looked up at him as he came in.

"Hey Chris!" Danny and Cathy both greeted in unison. Chris looked at Danny for a moment, then felt his face turn red as he remembered the movie from science class earlier that day. He looked away.

"Chris, you okay?" Sam's brow was creased as she looked at him.

"Why do you ask?" Chris asked, forcing himself to move the crutches again even as they dug further into the sore grooves in his underarms.

"Cause you look like you just ate a Salamarian slug raw!" Cathy teased.

"I'm pretty sure we don't have those on Earth, Cathy. My arms are sore from these stupid crutches." Chris hissed at the contact against his skin, rubbed practically raw. Danny jumped up from his chair and patted it. Chris gratefully sank into it, mumbling his thanks.

"Hey Chris, wanna try the tissue analyzer again?" Cathy hoisted the machine with a grin. "I think we've recalibrated it to human!"

"…think?" Chris asked skeptically.

"Well, it did this." Danny held out his arm, tinged slightly green around a rash and a thin white line of a healing cut. "But it's not at green as it was earlier."

"Pass," Chris said automatically. Danny shrugged and dropped his sleeve. As Danny turned back the computer, Chris realized he had let Cathy test the analyzer on him.

"We're trying to run the gel we collected from the worm yesterday," Sam informed Chris, typing away. "But it's cold and actually froze the analyzer."

Danny rolled the vial of the collected sample between his hands. "But look, it's a gel now…" he set the vial down on the desk. As Chris watched, the gel hardened and frosted the glass of the vial.

"Weird!" Chris picked up the vial, cold to the touch. A few moments later, the jelly stopped being solid and moved again. "It's responding to touch?"

"I guess so," Sam shrugged. "We can't get it in the analyzer to get any more information before it freezes."

"Maybe it's just cold," Danny suggested, stretching out on their floating cot.

"Cold?" Chris thought for a moment, shaking the vial in his hand. "Hey, Danny, good thinking!"

"Of course," Danny replied matter-of-factly, then paused and asked, "What did I think?"

Chris scooted his chair over to the computer, Sam sliding out of the way for him. "It's _cold_. It becomes a solid when it's not being held. So, I think it's using the warmth from us when we hold it." Chris pulled a lampbeam over the jelly sample and refocused it, but the gel didn't move under the heat. "Hmm…" He removed it from under the lamp, still cold to the touch. In his hand, it warmed and became liquidy again. He turned back to the others, watching him expectantly. "It doesn't respond to artificial heat."

"So… body heat? It needs body heat to move?" Sam asked, and took the vial from him.

"If we try to scan it, we'd have to hold it or it'd freeze, and we'd just mess up the scan." Sam turned to Cathy. "We know they're Zerellian worms, right?"

"Yeah, but Zerellian worms don't leave a trail of jelly like that." Cathy shrugged her arms. "Unless it's the mother worm when she's making a nest and getting ready to have her babies."

Chris, Sam, and Danny all stared at her.

"Wait, that giant, disgusting, wriggling worm that slimed us was getting ready to make more worms?" Danny asked, disgusted. Chris glanced at him and had to keep from laughing at the grossed-out look on the brunette's face. He found Danny's reactions always humorous.

"Yeah, and they'll eat anything in front of them. They're born really, really hungry!"

"We have to go find it and stop it before it's babies eats all of Singletown," Sam ordered.

"They'll eat a lot more than Singletown," Cathy interjected helpfully.

"Thanks Cath. Anything else you want to impart about these worms?" Danny asked sarcastically.

"If there's a mother worm ready to give birth, she always has worker worms with her to protect her and her nest."

"So there's more of these things around here?" Chris asked, then turned back to the computer. "Okay, we need to find their nest."

"Let's get in the shuttles and spread out." Sam nodded to each of the members, then called out "MBC, power up!" and ran to the shuttles. As Cathy followed suit, Chris started to get to his feet, hissing as his leg reminded him of his injury.

"Not you buddy," Danny teased, getting up from the floating cot and clapping Chris' shoulder. "You're staying here."

"I'm useless here," Chris objected. "I can still pilot my shuttle."

"You're staying. Here." Danny pushed on Chris' shoulder until he sat down again. "We need to figure out how many of these there are and where their nest is. Use the A-scan. Help us track that."

Chris scowled. "You're trying to think of something for me to do."

Danny just grinned and patted his shoulder as he turned away and pulled his sleeve up to access his communicator to morph. Chris saw the rash on Danny's arm, still barely faintly green. He reached out and caught Danny's sleeve, frowning.

"You let her practice using that thing on you?" Chris asked. "Even after you had to pull it off me?"

"Well, I figured," Danny shrugged. "It might help your leg." Danny grinned and looked at Chris. "But you don't want green skin."

Chris smiled back. "Thanks, though."

"No problem." Chris led his hand slide off Danny's arm. "See ya in a bit." Chris nodded as Danny thrust his arm into the air. "MBC, power up!"

**To be Continued**

**I didn't like this chapter -.- But it's necessary for what is coming up.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Far Away – Chapter Four_

"I've found more of this jelly trail along Mariposa."

Chris nodded at Sam's voice. "I'll mark it," he announced back, pausing from his task to slide over to the computer and typed in a new trail marker. He braced his good foot against the ground and slid back to the analyzer.

He ran the analyzer against his hand again, programming the computer to take his data and exclude it. The program ran the code, and Chris frowned as he isolated a few more problems. Cathy called another trail, and Chris absent-mindedly marked it while his new program ran another test.

"Here's another jelly trail heading north, but how do we tell if it's fresh or not?"

"Poke it with a stick Cath and find out." Danny's retort made Chris smile as he propped his foot up again.

"Let's see if this works," Chris said to himself.

"See if what works?" Danny's voice came out of the blue, surprising Chris a bit that he was listening.

"Just testing a new program," Chris replied as he held the gel sample vial in his hand and scanned them both. The computer separated Chris' data perfectly, and Chris grinned at the analyzer started to run on just the gel data. "Awe-"

A shrill squeal cut him off, like someone running a nail down an endless chalkboard. Chris dropped the gel vial in surprise and clapped his hands to his ears.

"What is _that_?" Sam demanded, her wincing almost audible over the comm.

"I don't know!" Chris called back, his eyes rapidly searching the computer. "The analyzer is just running!"

"It sounds like a Harpserico whistle!"

"It's annoying, that's what it is! Chris, make it stop!"

"If I knew what was causing it, I would!"

Cathy suddenly screeched then yelled, "A Zerellian worker worm just charged past me! It's going south!"

"Follow it Cathy, see where it's heading," Sam ordered. "We've converge to meet up with you."

While they kept babbling, Chris tried to pin one ear against his shoulder and block the other with one hand while his other hand flew across the keyboard, running diagnostics to figure out what could be making the sound. "It's not the computer!" he called out, although he was pretty sure the others were otherwise occupied at the moment. "It's none of our equipment!" The squeal just kept going, and it was about to drive Chris crazy.

"Chris! Chris!" Sam's frantic voice cut in on his own panicking through his attempts to block the noise. "There's another worm!" As she spoke, the A-scan popped up on the screen and Chris gaped at the trails highlighted.

"They're headed for the clubhouse!"

"Why would they go there?" Cathy demanded.

"Chris, get out of there!"

Danny's order didn't really register as Chris shoved his chair across the room again, still trying to find the source of the noise. "I think the squeal is what's drawing them here – if we stop that-"

The analyzer cheerily beeped it was done, a strange noise to hear amid the squeal and shouting of the club members. Chris whirled around, his injured leg dragging, and almost knocked over the vial of jelly he barely caught in time. The vial vibrated in his hand, and it clicked in his head.

"You guys! It's the jelly! The worm jelly!" he yelled, but the clubhouse floor rocked and the machines flickered. Chris flew off his chair into the computer desk, the vial in his hand smashing on the ground. The comm crackled with static, his friends' voices broken apart amid the squeal. The floor beneath him shuddered, and suddenly broke into pieces and erupted as feathery tendrils broke through the floor like plants through soil, the holes breaking larger as the tendrils got thicker and attached to worm bodies.

Chris tried to stagger to his feet, the pain screaming up his bad leg second to the fear in his head. "MBC, Power-" A tendril caught him across his stomach and threw him across the room into the wall. Everything went fuzzy and black for a time Chris wasn't sure about, before he heard Danny yelling his name. He opened his eyes and saw the clubhouse was wrecked, one of the worms was screeching over the spilled jelly on the floor and absorbing it, and another's tendrils were wrapped around his good leg and arms.

Chris screamed and kicked to get away. A blaster ray pierced through the madness and the tendrils immediately retracted. Chris scrambled backwards before a hand grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him back. He looked up to see the red visor across green eyes, wide with fear.

"Chris! You okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Chris stammered, although he didn't really know. But one of the worms cut them off, smashing it's tendrils between them an this time snapping at both of the boys.

"Danny!" Chris yelled, and his hand grasped for the blaster that didn't appear. He had to morph into his MBC blaster armor-

A tendril hoisted him in the air by his waist, by the worm that had been hovering over the jelly which was now smeared on it's feathering, as if gathered from the spill. Chris wasn't sure how a worm expressed itself, but right now he knew without a doubt that it was _pissed._

He jerked against the tendril holding him upside down, trying to free himself enough to morph and help Danny who was struggling with his own worm, also caught in tendrils as he blasted away. But then the worm suddenly lifted its head and opened it's mouth as Chris lowered towards the slime-filled opening. Chris gave a strangled cry.

"_Chris_!"

The worm's mouth slammed against a purple shield, forming around Chris. The worm let out a hideous scream itself, like an intensified version of the jelly's squeal, as Chris dropped inside the bubbled with writhing tendrils about him, dissected from the worm's body.

Chris stared in shock up from the safety shield, before the worm lunged past the shield. Chris flipped over to see it's target: Danny, his blaster changed into the shield generator.

"Dan-" Chris could barely gasp out the first syllable. For a split second, the look on Danny's face – satisfaction, pride, relief – Chris would never forget. Then the worm grabbed Danny's waist, who didn't have time to change the blaster back, and Chris could only scream as Danny was swiftly swallowed whole.

_"__DANNY!"_

**To Be Continued**

**A/N: Now would be a great time to take a break to do my homework... Don't ya think?  
**


	5. Chapter 5

_Far Away – Chapter Five_

"Let me out! Let me out!"

Chris' fists struck uselessly against the shield as he sobbed, "Let-me-_out_!"

The shield only fizzled slightly. Another cry worked free from Chris' throat as he thumped his fist again. "Please… please!"

Outside the protective bubble, the clubhouse was a mess. The computers flickered, furniture upended, and the analyzer still beeping away. The door hand been ripped completely off it's hinges by the worms that had eaten Danny-

No! Chris mentally screamed at himself. _Took_ Danny. Not eaten. He had to save Danny. The fiery pain in his busted leg took a distant spot compared to Danny. It didn't even register as he staggered to his feet again and tried to morph.

"MBC Pow… MBC Power…" He fell back to his knees as another sob escaped. A tendril squished under his brace, and furiously Chris grabbed it and threw it against the shield. "Give him back!"

"Chris!" Sam called, jumping over an upturned table to get to the shield.

"Give who back?" Cathy asked as she stretched and stepped over the same table.

Chris jumped to his feet, stumbling a second as his leg gave out. "Danny! We have to save Danny!"

"Chris, what-" Sam's eyes roamed from him trapped inside the shield they used to capture and hold aliens to the mess of the clubhouse. Chris smacked his hand on the shield to get her attention.

"The worms! They took Danny!" he yelled, unable to keep the frantic edge from his voice.

"Wha-" Sam's eyes widened.

"They TOOK him!" Chris squeezed his eyes shut. "He threw the shield to save _me,_ and they got _him!_"

"We'll get him back." Sam's firm voice left for no other outcomes. She found Danny's fallen shield generator and deactivated it. "How long ago did they kidnap him?"

"I don't know." Chris could hear the hysteria in his own voice. But it was _Danny_, so upbeat and bright he was practically Chris' sun.

Some small part of Chris' brain, staggering about in complete shock of the events, acknowledged that before Chris would immediately squash such thoughts. It was the same part of the brain that noticed the initial squealing had stopped. And the analyzer's beeping still _hadn't_ stopped.

"We have to save him," Chris heard himself babbling.

"Of course Chris," Sam retorted, an unspoken 'duh' in her tone. "We need to figure out where they went."

Chris lunged for the computer before he remembered it was broken – as was his foot. It completely gave out on him and he collapsed, the sheer pain telling him it was far more than sprained now.

His eyes scanned the mess around him, reeling in the hopelessness striking in the hollow of his chest. They could never track the Zerellian worms without their equipment. He spotted the tissue analyzer amid the mess, and moved towards it, dragging his leg. "Chris?"

"Cathy, use this thing on me," he ordered. She stared at him blankly for a moment. "I have to find Danny," he said through gritted teeth. "I can't do that with a broken leg."

"But you said you didn't wan-"

"Danny let you practice on him for me, right? And it worked, didn't it?"

"…mostly," Cathy shrugged and picked up the analyzer. As she checked to make sure it hadn't been broken in the fight, Chris dragged himself to the analyzer's computer to reset it to his data, hoping that'd help.

But he saw the results from the gel and stopped. "Wait, that slime those worms made supports life?" he asked. He sat himself down in the chair as Sam and Cathy came up behind him.

"It says they use it to make the nest, so I guess it has to so it can help all the little Zerellian worm babies," Cathy responded.

"The babies that are going to eat our town, remember?" Sam asked sarcastically. Chris cleared the computer, which threatened to disconnect at any moment. "We're going to need new equipment." Sam whirled around to the door and ran out as she called, "I'm telling Mr. Smith what's happened!"

"Ready?" Cathy asked as the analyzer opened.

Chris didn't even hesitate, removing his brace and letting it clamp around his broken leg. It burned for a second, but not as badly as he remembered, and he could feel the bones shift ever so slightly.

"It worked!" Cathy cheered as the light turned green and the analyzer opened again.

"What, you mean it didn't on Danny?" Chris asked, his mind wincing at the thought of Danny.

"Well, we got around to fixing the problems we caused," she said helpfully. But Chris didn't pay attention to her as he got to his feet, carefully testing to see if his leg would hold. There wasn't even a wince of pain.

"MBC Power up!"

As his buster armor morphed around him, he ran for the portal to the shuttles. Sam came in, followed by Mr. Smith, and made him stop in his tracks by asking, "Chris! Where are you going?"

"I have to find Danny," he made out through gritted teeth. Danny's expression just before the worm swallowed him came back to Chris' mind.

"But with all the systems offline, you're going to be flying blind!"

"That's right Chris. You'll waste time without knowing where you're going. To acquire replacement equipment, I am contacting the galatic-"

"We don't have TIME!" Chris snapped over top of Mr. Smith. "We've already wasted-"

"Chris, calm down! Getting angry won't help Danny at all-"

"Shut up Sam! I'm not angry!"

"Chris, stop it!" Cathy wrapped her hands around his arm. "We'll save Danny! Remember we can track him through his comm if we can get the system back!"

Chris' fists were balled tightly as he forced himself to inhale and exhale slowly. They were right. Charging off without a plan wouldn't help Danny at all. Chris let out a little panic-fed chuckle as he realized that he was playing Danny's usual role.

"Okay then." He turned to the mess of the clubhouse. "But we _have _to _hurry_!"

As Mr. Smith went off to speak to his contacts about getting some emergency equipment immediately and the three of them started to go through the wreck and see what they could salvage, Chris tried to shove Danny from his mind and failed.

_Don't worry Danny, I'll find you. I promise._

_Cause I don't know what I'd do without you...  
_

**To Be Continued...**

**A/N: Yaaaay boring chapters behind me now. There's a few storyline choices coming up that I still haven't decided if I wanna do them or not... hm. Anyone wanna express their opinion and what they'd LIKE to see happen?  
**


	6. Chapter 6

_Far Away - Chapter Six_

"And we are back online!"

The announcement let up a short cheer in the clubhouse after a few hours of hard work in which Chris ran around trying to restart all the programs. Chris' fingers flew across the keyboard as Sam asked, "What all have we got?"

"Well, we're still down on some of the gadgets, but the weapons, shuttles, and-" Chris hit the call signal, "The comms are all back!"

The signal went out and Chris' chest caught as Danny's comm responded. "Danny!" he cried out before the connection was even established. "Danny, are you there?!"

The screen came up, but there was no Danny, just blue.

Chris' heart plummeted. He wanted to hear Danny's voice, reassuring him that he was captured but okay, or that he was trying to escape, or something. But the screen just showed blue out of focus.

"No, no no no…" Chris slammed his fists on the console. The last few hours had been wasted. "He's not there…"

"Yes he is! Look!" Sam pointed at the screen. "The comm still shows it's attached to him!"

Chris' heart started again as he jerked forward to the controls and locked on the signal from the comm. It was distorted, but there. "I'm sending this location to our shuttles," was all he said before he jumped up and ran for the shuttle port and Sam and Cathy had to chase after him.

Chris landed in his seat as his hands grasped the controls, blasting off with a second to hesitate. His navigation system beamed Danny's position on their underground tunnel map, and Chris clung to that with die-hard determination. Thoughts flitted through his mind like frantic butterflies on speed: memories of Danny, and of the pain that still raged in Chris' heart that he hadn't been able to identify for the longest time. The half-formed fantasies he had of one day working up the courage to tell his best friend and the best possible outcomes from that… and the nightmares of the worst. It was a dream, a dream Chris didn't dare give birth to and instead nurtured in his mind. If he let it out, he would lose Danny, and that was the worst nightmare of all. So he was content to stay at Danny's side as a friend, no matter the pain of the undelivered dream.

But here he was, on the verge of losing Danny anyways. And this pain – losing Danny for good – hurt more than any of the nightmares.

"I'm not going to lose him!" Chris screamed out loud at the beeping icon of Danny's signal on the screen, his own almost on top of it.

"Chris?" Sam asked, alarmed.

Chris stalled, mouth stumbling for an excuse, when his shuttle supplied one. "I'm there!" he shouted, hitting the brakes and ejecting.

A strange sort of hive had been built inside a building – which could have been his own house for all Chris noticed or cared – and his blasted made short work of the door. Sam and Cathy were at his side in a moment, yelling at him for going ahead without them. Several worms protectively hovered in a circle facing inward, and were easily captured while distracted. Chris charged through, ignoring the writhing new baby worms on the floor still encased in blue jelly, then stopped short at the sight of Danny.

Chris could swear he had been punched in the gut. The giant worm Chris dimly remembered chasing before and causing the gaping wound across it's back, oozed blue jelly and little worms. One of it's tendrils, almost in a protective way, wrapped around Danny's waist, submerged in blue gel leaning against it's side. His wrist comm blinked from within the blue jelly. Danny didn't move, even when Chris screamed his name.

Chris plunged his hands into the cold jelly. Somewhere behind him Cathy and Sam were firing away. He couldn't hear them or the blasters, or even the screech of the worm as Chris ripped Danny free from it's hold and the jelly started to ice over and freeze. He could only hear the wild rambling in his head: _don't be dead he can't be dead don't be dead he's not dead! don't be dead…_

"Danny!" Chris gathered the still boy up in his arms. Even through his gloves he could feel Danny's skin, icy to the touch and tinted blue, crystallized gel stuck in his hair and eyelashes which didn't open. Danny's chest rose sharply, then he gagged up blue jelly.

"Danny?" Chris' voice trembled as he wiped the gel away. Danny's lips were almost purple, like he had eaten a popsicle recently. Chris rocked in a fit of panic. "Danny, please…"

"He's alive, Chris!" Sam's hand on his shoulder made him jerk and clutch Danny closer to him. She fired her blaster at somewhere behind him. "Remember, the jelly supports life- It was keeping him alive!"

Chris recalled the readings from the analyzer. "But it's not going to last long-We have to clear it out of him soon!" He clambered to his feet. "We have to get him back to the clubhouse! Now!"

Sam didn't hesitate as she yelled, "Cathy, fall back!"

"But-"Cathy faltered, looking at the almost defenseless motherworm.

"We'll take care of her later!" Sam snapped as she helped Chris stand up, who refused to let her take Danny from his arms. "She doesn't have her worker worms and she's not going anywhere!" She looked at Chris. "Come on, we have to get him to my shutt-"

"I'll take him," Chris retorted sharply. "I have the most room in my shuttle."

Sam looked ready to argue, but only had to take one look at Chris' face before she silently nodded. Chris jumped into his shuttle to settle into his chair, then pulled Danny into his lap. He grabbed the harness and strapped Danny down against his chest. Sam yelled something about getting back to the clubhouse and shut his cockpit for him.

Chris could feel the chill through his buster armor and gritted his teeth as he reached around Danny's still form to fumble for his dash. There had to be some kind of temperature control, he figured aliens had to get uncomfortable in the cold crush of space. It took a second for him to realize there wasn't, and he cursed before dropping the heat shield between him and the jet engine nestled behind him as low as he dared without burning them both to crisps.

Danny's cold forehead rested against Chris' neck. Chris risked another second to run his hand through Danny's hair, shutting his eyes tightly. "Danny…"

Then he hit the accelerator and took off like the rocket his shuttle was. The cockpit flooded with residual heat, and Chris blinked hard against the sweat that form and dripped into his eyes. The little shuttle shook as it strained against the force Chris pushed on it, so he didn't notice at first when Danny started to shake himself. Chris' breath caught in fear as Danny convulsed between the harness and his chest.

Chris wrapped an arm around Danny's waist, feeling the wracking tremors threatening to tear the cold body apart. After narrowly avoiding crashing into the tunnel walls several times Chris had to slow down because he refused to surrender his grip trying to steady Danny's body against his. He pressed his cheek against Danny's temple, offering the only comfort he could.

"Danny, don't die."

The whisper couldn't be heard over his shuttle's roar, but just saying the words made their awful truth come to light: Danny – the most precious person in the entire universe - could die, right here and now… and there wasn't a thing Chris could do.

His arm tightened around Danny's thrashing waist as his shuttled approached his docking station beneath the clubhouse. "Don't die." His shuttle powered down and stopped according to it's program, and Chris tightly shut his eyes to stop the threatening tears. "I love you Danny – please don't die!"

**To Be Continued...**

**A/N: Poor Chris.**

**I've been trying to keep the chapters interesting (writing 'rule': cut out the parts people would skip) and on the short side because most people don't like lengthy chapters in online stuff... plus, I update more often that way. So... yeah. Feedback on this method or just the story in general? And future events you think might happen? :3  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_Far Away - Chapter Seven_

"Zerellian motherworms can't sustain their own heat when injured."

Chris could hear Mr. Smith's explanation, but he didn't look at the short disguised alien. His eyes were focused only on Danny, lying in a hastily constructed heat chamber, strapped down to keep him from thrashing. He had to watch, he had to make sure Danny's chest rose and fell, he had to see the temperature gauge struggle. He felt like if he looked away, even for a moment, it would all stop and Danny would slip away.

"Humans regulate their own temperature, and produce heat to do so. So it seems that Danny-" Mr. Smith choked a second, struggling with the explanation.

"Was a heater," Chris finished, but couldn't believe his own voice. It was a tone he had never heard before.

Silence reigned for a moment which Cathy's gentle sobbing filled, before Mr. Smith hesitantly said, "Yes, primitively so. Rather than sacrifice their own heat, the worker worms replaced themselves with Danny…" He kept going, trying to talk away the quiet that seized their small group since they had cleared the jelly from Danny's throat and stripped him of his armor to put in the heat chamber.

Chris could only stare helplessly at Danny. His fingers and toes were dark – frostbite, Chris' mind filled in. Danny was so cold, his body trying to keep itself warm but being sucked out so some alien worm could _reproduce_. It was horribly unfair – and for the first time Chris felt like he actually _hated_ something. And yet, he realized in a twisted way, this was _his _fault. He had shot the motherworm in the first place, which made her need an outside heat source and pissed off the worker worms. _He _had scanned the jelly, making the worker worms think there was a threat to the nest and caused them to attack the clubhouse. Danny had been taken because he had saved _Chris_.

This was all his fault – and Danny was paying for him.

"Come on Cathy, let's get you something to drink to help you calm down," Sam suggested, and herded her out the clubhouse door with Mr. Smith following them, commenting on some alien drink that should 'do the trick'. Chris released a breath he didn't know he had been holding, grateful that they had left. He wanted to break down and cry just like Cathy, but couldn't. He had to help Danny, somehow.

Danny twitched inside the heat chamber and he whimpered, breaking Chris' heart to hear. A nightmare, maybe, and Chris couldn't offer any comfort.

Not out here, anyway. His brain engaged and realized that while Danny had to stay in the heat chamber and warm up, Chris didn't have to stay out of it.

So he stood up, stripped off both his shirts and kicked off his shoes. He opened the shielding of the heat chamber they had quickly built and crawled into the tight space. Inside wasn't unbearably warm – heating a body up too fast damaged it apparently, but it was still stifling and now cramped with two bodies inside.

Chris didn't care. He released the straps holding Danny down, wincing himself at where the straps had rubbed Danny's skin raw from thrashing. He squirmed around until Danny rested against his bare chest, his head tucked under Chris' chin and Chris holding him tightly.

Chris shut his eyes and tried to memorize this moment. The curve of Danny's almost-naked body against his, (which he blushed at remembering the science class video) his arm around Danny's waist holding him protectively, one hand buried in Danny's hair, Danny's breath against his collar bone. Even the strange sensation of the surface being warm but the core still chilled… Chris committed it all to memory. Just in case this was the only chance he'd get.

If Danny woke up, he would tell him, Chris promised himself. When Danny didn't want him there, he would let go and keep this memory forever. If Danny didn't wake up-… Chris couldn't even think that outcome. Then he would be the one frozen to the center, but miserably alive.

Even though he was hot and starting to sweat, Chris drifted off. He dreamed the same nightmare – walking in and finding Danny's body completely cold without a spark of life – several times over. A few times Danny twitched, and Chris roused long enough to check him. One time he opened his eyes, he saw Sam standing by the chamber looking in at them, and blushed.

"Sam, I…"

"Oh please." Sam cut him off with an eyeroll, before opening the shielding wide enough to slip a water bottle in to him. Chris accepted it gratefully and drained the entire bottle before it had a chance to heat up. He looked back at her when he finished. "As if you haven't been completely obvious the last few hours, even if I didn't already notice. I don't mind. Promise."

Chris nodded, and felt something release slightly in his chest. She was okay with it. Maybe… maybe Danny would be too.

"He's going to make it," she reassured him, leaning against the shielding.

"His color is getting better," Chris admitted, casting a gaze down to the boy resting against his chest. Even his fingers were looking better…less dark. He caught one hand in his and tenderly inspected it, before squeezing gently.

"He's going to make it," she repeated firmly, and lightly tapped the shield. "Haven't you noticed? He stopped convulsing."

Chris realized his arms were still wrapped tightly around Danny to prevent him from hurting himself, but he hadn't thrashed at all since Chris held him. "He hasn't," he murmured, a bit amazed.

"We're still trying to work out what to tell his family." And with that as an explanation she left them alone again.

Chris sighed in the hot air of the chamber and shut his eyes again, which were threatening to dry out on him between the heat and the tears. Danny stirred again, and Chris squeezed his hand in reassurance as he let himself drift off back into the same nightmare, time marked only by Danny's slight movements. Chris cracked a tired eye open each time, relieved when he saw Danny's skin take on a shade that was other than barely off-white.

Danny stirred again, and this time, lifted his head. Chris took a moment to process that, barely seeing Danny through a half-opened eye. Danny's eyes were open, and he looked disoriented and groggy, but definitely conscious.

Chris was about to speak when Danny looked at him, and a slight smile twitched on his cracked lips. Danny put his head back on Chris' chest and sighed, then… he _snuggled._

Chris' brain exploded with a thousand different thoughts, each one more illogical than the next. Some rational part of his mind screamed that it was nothing, Chris couldn't let himself read into it, Danny was sick and didn't know what was going on, needed comfort – then Danny squeezed Chris' hand.

Oh, _screw_ it.

"Danny?" Chris gently asked. Danny's eyes opened, then shut in a grimace of pain.

"Hurts…" Danny whimpered out.

"Where?" Chris asked carefully. Danny didn't respond, just lay there on Chris' chest.

"Danny…" Chris gently moved Danny's head so his foggy eyes had to look at him.

It was only after Chris pressed his mouth against Danny's did he acknowledge that Danny's lips weren't as pink as they had been.

Chris heard a strange gasp from outside the chamber, and broke off the kiss after only a second or two. Cathy was staring at him with wide eyes, and Sam… had her face buried in her hand in exasperation. And Danny…

"What the hell was that?" Danny's rasped voice struck Chris like a slap across the face.

In a second, Chris was tumbling out of the heat chamber, scrambling across the floor of the clubhouse, grabbing his shirts and shoes, and plunging out the clubhouse door. Voices called after him, but he didn't stop until he was blocks away.

He slumped against a fence, tears already leaking down his face, as he heard Danny's breathy question again and again, gaining more and more animosity until it was a track wreck against any fantasies Chris had.

The dream shattered.


	8. Chapter 8

**Far Away – Chapter Eight**

"Lost? I heard Danny got kidnapped."

"No! He's like, in the hospital."

Chris slammed his locker shut as Wendy passed by with another classmate. Well, the rumor mill seemed to be alive and well. Chris wondered exactly what cover story had been offered to hide Danny's sudden disappearance.

He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about Danny, but even just looking at his locker made his heart sink again. He turned away from it and had to remind himself to limp… which brought his mind back to Danny.

His leg was actually fine, aside from still being a tinge of green that made it look like his foot had a weird case of seasickness. But when he had finally dragged himself home after – can't think about him - his mom flipped out that he wasn't wearing his brace or using his crutches.

He had played sick the next few days, milking it as long as he could. And it really wasn't that hard to 'act'… Chris had always thought the teen movies or chick flicks with the weepy girl locking herself in her room and losing her appetite were pretty pathetic and unrealistic. But after staring at his ceiling for a few hours just aching inside, he understood. It was a ball of pain he just wanted to make go away and couldn't. There wasn't a way to describe it. Everything, _everything_ was different now – he had lost his best friend and the person he loved in one moment. Nothing would be the same.

Chris couldn't even look at his Monster Buster Club comm. Sam and Cathy had both called him several times, and Chris couldn't bring himself to answer. He listened to a few messages, asking him if he was okay. He couldn't reply. When Sam left the message that Danny was in the hospital, Chris took the comm off and buried it under his mattress so he couldn't hear it beep. He didn't want to talk to either of them, because then he'd think of-

All thoughts came back to _him_, he was so far into Chris' universe, he was the center of it. Chris had snorted through dried tears at that idea. Yes… like a sun. Because the earth couldn't live without the sun, but the sun…

The sun would be just fine without the earth.

The tears began again, and Chris cried himself to sleep.

But somehow, the world moved on even though Chris was sure it had broken into pieces. Eventually his mom got tired of his act and forced him to go to school. At least he had been able to ditch the crutches… which Mark decided was a target.

"Hey gimp, where's your second set of legs? Checked in with your buddy?"

Chris slammed his book into the locker by Mark's head. Mark jumped and shrieked a bit.

"First off, if you're going to insult me, be more original and sound more intelligent," Chris hissed through clenched teeth. "Second. I am not. In. The mood."

"Yeah, like, lay off, Mark." Wendy's sudden piping in did not help Chris' on-edge mood. "Danny's like, in a coma!"

"Coma?" Mark asked the question before Chris could.

"Yeah, they like… found this weird stuff inside him." Chris felt like his stomach had been punched. "And he hasn't woken up, y'know, at all."

Chris forced himself to stand up straight again, and put one foot in front of the other. He barely remembered he was supposed to be limping, but he ignored that in favor of his target who he countered at her desk.

Sam's eyes widened in surprise as he headed straight for her. "Chris!" she called out, half-relieved and half-scolding. "I tried calling you! What hap-"

"What's wrong with Danny?" he asked, his mind recoiling at the name he had been avoiding to even think for the past few days. "They said he was in a coma?"

"We tried to tell you…" Cathy began slowly. "That Zerellian jelly is stuck in his body."

"_What_?"

"It's bonded, Chris," Sam explained hurriedly. "We couldn't do anything. Technically, I think its still bond-_ing."_

" Which is why he hasn't woken up," Cathy added.

"The doctors are trying to figure out what it is, cause they said it's affecting the part of his body that controls hot and cold and stuff like that."

"But Grandpa says he'll wake up again if the bonding takes," Cathy finished.

"If it _takes?"_ Chris demanded. "So Danny-" mental flinch, "-is going to be part alien?"

Cathy took a step back. "In a way…"

Sam stood up to stand between the two. "Chris, why didn't you answer us at all?" she asked sternly.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just…_because_!"

"Christopher, Samantha, Cathy, sit down. Class is starting," Mr. Fusster's nasal tone broke in.

They all hesitantly obeyed, and Mr. Fusster coughed before turning to the blackboard and beginning to lecture in his usual monotone.

Chris' head was full of thoughts concerning the person he had tried to not name all week, and feeling sick to his stomach. Danny was still suffering because of _him_.

Chris was on the verge of a small panic attack in the middle of class when a paper ball hit the back of his head. He looked down at it beside his chair leg, and glanced back to see Sam motioning to it. He carefully picked it up when Mr. Fusster wasn't looking, and smoothed the paper out against his leg. His breath caught in his chest as he read.

_Zerellian mother missing, couldn't find her_

_Zerellians are pissed - battleship is coming_

_Soon__._

**To Be Continued...**

**A/N: I really toyed with the idea of leaving it hanging for about a week or so, making people think that was the end of the story... But got bored with waiting.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

_Far Away - Chapter Nine_

"Chris, aren't you coming?"

Chris inhaled slowly, the bleachy smell of the hospital so strong he could taste it on his tongue. He didn't want to be here, but he followed after Sam and Cathy out of the elevator into the hospital wing. They had known the way to Danny's room without having to ask for directions.

But Sam did stop at the nurse's station and leaned on the counter to ask, "How's he doing today?" The froggy-looking nurse didn't even seem surprised at her question, but her eyes drifted to Chris. "It's okay, he's a Monster Buster too." The nurse nodded to Chris and he had to nod back – figures the hospital would have a few disguised aliens on staff to hide any alien-related stuff.

"He's resting for the moment," the nurse replied. "He's been having seizures all day, the poor thing. They've getting horribly worse, we're thinking he may be losing ground. We finally convinced his mother to go home and rest herself-" Chris tightened his fist and buried it deeper into his pocket as she carried on about what they told Danny's mom to cover up his real condition. The words echoed hollowly inside his chest against broken pieces. "-But you can go in now."

Chris dully stared as Sam and Cathy thanked the nurse and moved down the hall. Inanely, Chris thought hospitals were supposed to be all white – apparently, a beige and light puke-yellow color theme was in. Or someone liked their breakfast eggs a little too much. Entirely possible if aliens were on staff.

Sam walked through a semi-open door and disappeared into the dimmed light inside, and Cathy followed, unusually quiet. Chris hesitated and wondered if he could find his way back to the entrance before Sam hissed, "Oh, just get in here." Cathy's arm stretched out and snagged his elbow before he could protest, dragging Chris inside.

And he almost broke.

Danny lay in the middle of the hospital bed, an oxygen mask across his face and wires and tubes running every which way and cascading off the sides of the bed to machines. The white bed and gown had bled Danny of all his color… like the sun going out.

Chris' backpack hit the floor as his knees lost their ability to hold him up. Sam caught him on his way down.

"Chris?" her voice sounded so far away.

That was Danny – the Danny Chris so desperately wanted to call _his_ and couldn't, even to himself – lying there. His hair in disarray, eyes shut, buried under blankets, and connected to various machines like a weird circuit. Chris wanted to throw up and add to the hospital's decorum.

Chris dug out Danny's hand from under the covers and what felt like an electric blanket and clasped it, not even really sure how he got to the bed. Somewhere behind him, Sam made up an excuse about hot chocolate to get Cathy out of the room, and the door shut behind them.

"Danny…"

Chris shut his eyes tightly and tears clung to the corners as he pressed his cheek against Danny's hand. All the longing came back in a flood that made him weak in the heart, and the jagged pain from it being broken. _What the hell was that, you freak?!_

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

He felt the hand he held tremble, and his chest lurched to think Danny may be waking up – but Danny's whole body began to shake in another seizure and the machines next to the bed started to get loud and fast.

"No!" Chris blurted out, his arms flying out and pressing against Danny in a strange tackle mixed with an embrace. The tremors lasted another few seconds before slowing and ebbing. "Please…" Chris whispered into the crook of Danny's neck, "Please… let me stay as long as it takes to help you. Please, I have to make this right again. Then you can hate me and I'll leave you alone forever." His heart broke even more as he spoke, and the tears rolled in rivers down his cheeks. When the trembling stopped and the breathing evened, he lifted his head and looked at the still face – the face that should be smiling and laughing and grinning in that cocky way that made Chris melt. Chris brushed back Danny's hair from his face and gently kissed his forehead as the tears fell.

The door opened as Chris leaned back and the froggy-nurse bustled in. She slowed in surprise. "His seizure stopp-"

Chris scooped up his backpack from the floor and ran past her, frantically rubbing at his face. He had to stay together right now – had to stay strong until Danny was better. Then he would let himself fall apart and shatter in a thousand pieces. His face was mostly dry when he ran into Cathy and Sam coming back down the hall with foam cups in hand.

They looked at him in surprise, Cathy starting to say, "Chris-" before Sam elbowed her in the side.

"Come on, we have to track down that Zerellian mother worm," Chris ordered. Sam smiled at him in a relieved way.

"Let's go."

_Author's Note: I'm very sorry for taking so long! School just started up again and it's killing me. But if you're sticking with us, thank you very much *bows* And everyone thank Xiaolin101 for messaging me and getting me to force myself to finish this chapter today.  
_

_So, I know how the story's going to run it's course (mostly), but I've gotten a few ideas for a continuation... would people be interested in like... an epilogue?  
_


	10. Chapter 10

**F****ar Away – Chapter Ten**

"Geez, whatever was here, it made a mess."

Chris glanced around to where Sam was picking her way around the jelly trails. Chris himself was struggling not to step in them as much as he struggled to keep his mind from flashing back to that horrid day when they had to rescue Danny. His mind and heart were – for a moment – at ease. They both ached dully, but mostly numb to the pain. Right now, Chris was helping Danny and that helped with his own turmoil. He was certain it would come back in a flash, but for now it was easier to let himself be distracted.

So he looked back at the A-scan, frowning. "Well, I've got the jelly trails from the Zerellian mother worm." Dark thoughts still curled at the corners of his mind at the alien that had almost sucked the very life out of Danny. Chris gave himself a shake and shoved them aside.

"Me too. It's everywhere," Sam grumbled.

Chris looked at the scanner thoughtfully. "Maybe I can upload the jelly bio-data and have the A-scan separate it's trail from the new alien's trail."

"That's brilliant, Chris!" Cathy cheered as her comm started blinking. "Oh, it's Grandpa," she said happily and turned to answer it.

Chris occupied himself with adjusting the A-scan, and sweeping it across the room again. The trails separated and lit up in different colors. "Got it!" Chris grinned at his own genius, but it quickly faded to a frown as he saw the blinking icon on the city map - approaching their location. _Fast._

"We've got trouble!" he yelled, and Sam immediately flashed out her Buster gun.

"Grandpa says that Danny's stabil-"

"Cathy! We've got trouble!" Sam relayed, darting behind a wall for cover. Cathy and Chris both copied her, Chris loading his Buster gun just before mechanical arms ripped open the wall. Concrete shards rained down with dust and Chris covered his head with his free arm while grasping claws tore through venting tubes like tin foil. One latched around Cathy's waist, who screeched at it in an alien language before stretching herself to the ceiling and pulling free.

For a moment, Chris thought it looked like a giant, dangerous version of the stuffed animal vendor machines in every arcade. Then the machine thing squeaked back at Cathy, grinding to a halt.

Chris felt like his life had gone completely surreal as Cathy responded _back._

"Cath! What's going on?" Sam yelled. Cathy – hanging by her hands as casually as Chris would lean against his locker - looked towards the direction her voice had come from, and Chris had to strain to see her still in hiding.

"This is a Nubillian!" Cathy responded almost cheerily. "They're at war with the Zerellians and found the injured mother worm and took her."

Chris bolted up from his hiding place, anger flaring. "Wait, so they're the reason that battleship is heading for SingleTown?!"

"Yep." Cathy nodded, swaying slightly as the Nubillian kept squeaking away.

"So let them take the blame and fight it out!"

"Chris!" Sam had come out from her hiding spot as well. Chris knew he was being irrational, but he was almost kinda pissed, and felt just a bit justified.

"They want to take the motherworm back," Cathy replied, translating from the alien. "They're hoping that it'll cause a cease-fire."

"Wait, they want to end this war of theirs?" Sam asked, coming forward completely. "Then why did it just rip the wall out?"

Chris could answer that. "It set some sort of sensor device up so it went off and alerted them if anyone came in the area. I'm guessing now to see if a Zerellian worm came here looking for the motherworm." Cathy translated as he spoke.

"Well, word of advice to them then… don't crash through the wall!" Sam sighed as she finally put away her Buster gun. She looked over at Chris, who approached the metal-encased alien carefully. He figured out it had to be a suit, but it was still intimidating. Which was probably the point. "So what do we do?" Sam asked.

Chris sighed. He just wanted this mess over, then that thought filled him with dread. Danny would be able to go back to hating him. _What the hell was that, you freak?! Get away from me!_

He shoved that thought aside as Cathy spoke. "We need to go check on the motherworm and make sure she's okay." Chris scowled. He didn't want to be anywhere near the worm that almost killed Danny.

"And we need to scan for the Zerellian warship and see where it is so we can tell them where their motherworm is." Sam looked at Chris. "Chris, why don't you-"

"I'll do the scan," Chris said immediately. "I'm not going near that thing again."

"Chris-" Cathy started. But he turned to his A-scan.

"You guys go check on that _thing,_" Chris grumbled.

"Chris… Danny's going to be okay," Sam started gently. "Mr. Smith is with him right now. He'll find something to help him."

"I _know_," Chris shot back. He shut his eyes tightly, trying not to let the surge of pain rise in his chest at the thought of Danny hating him, or Danny not waking up, or just Danny in general. "Just… better get going."

He heard them shuffling out and the Nubillian rattling as he randomly hit a few buttons. As the sound faded, Chris glanced over his shoulder to see that they were out of sight. Then his strength left him and he slid to the ground.

How could something hurt this much?

He fiddled with the A-scan and his comm unit, not paying much attention as his hands ran on autopilot with the equipment. His brain swayed from one thought to the next as he tried not to think about… anything, really. Every thought led back to the same thing, which immediately jumped to the painful memory of Danny thinking he was disgusting, shoving him away-

There was a clattering, jolting Chris from his thoughts. It took a moment for him to realize it wasn't any kind of attack – he had thrown the A-scan across the floor. It beeped, probably protesting at being flung, but even that had memories attached to it. Chris moaned, and buried his hands in his hair.

_Danny_.

Suddenly, Chris felt the shift.

He jerked his head up just as the light enveloped him and the concrete walls faded into steel ones around a transpad. He scooted backwards in horror at the Zerellian worms surrounding him, before one seized him around his neck.

**To Be Continued...**

_Author's Note: School gets in the way of playtime. Hope I didn't lose you all with the long delays in updates... But comments really do make me update faster cause then I feel kinda obligated to work on this story... (otherwise, I just get to it on a whatever, whenever basis)  
_

_Poor Chris. He just can't catch a break, huh..._


	11. Chapter 11

**Far Away - Chapter Eleven**

Chris grunted as he slammed into the curved wall and slid to the floor. For a moment, the lights inside the Zerellian ship dimmed as his head swam and threatened to pull him into the dark.

The alien left Chris lying in the lowest point of the bowled holding cell, bleeding. Chris dully watched as the door shut behind the worm, wondering after if it was really a 'worm' with razored tentacles and an armored face and legs, with the ability to make an electrical current. Chris hadn't known that. Something to update their database with. And slime. Why did they all slime? Is that why he was lying atop a drain and the ship was all curved? Did the slime conduct the current?

He listened to the slime draining away below him, wondering how much blood was swirling away. The grate dug uncomfortably into his side.

He struggled to sit up and shift off the grate. His one arm ached whenever he moved it, and he could see the slices in his skin through his buster armor. His foot was probably broken again from being pulled and flung by. His good hand quested carefully down his leg, and he whimpered from his raw throat at the movement.

Chris knew his thoughts were staggering from place to place, he had to get his head together. He heard clattering nearby. Had to focus. Even as his body twitched in the aftermath of the electrical shocks.

But that was a lot of blood. And slime. Like the slime in Danny…

"Chris!"

Chris thought he had gone unconscious or the blood loss had completely obliterated his brain. It had to be a figment of his imagination squatting next to him – a shard of the broken, still-born dream coming to taunt him a final time from the drain vent. But God, did it have beautiful green eyes.

Then the figment's hand touched his shoulder carefully, sending a shock of pain through him and let him know he was definitely awake. "Chris? Chris, please, answer me."

"D…Danny?" he whispered. He took in the drain grate tossed aside and the slime caked on Danny's knees and hands and smeared across his buster armor.

The hand on his shoulder shook, and the blaster in the other trembled and fell from Danny's red gloved-fingers. "Chris?" Chris' hand raised and closed around Danny's wrist, and he could feel the pulse racing.

Danny was _awake._

His breath racing and his face pale and dark circles sank his eyes, but he was awake. He was _awake_.

"Oh thank God," Chris blurted, his good arm flinging around Danny's neck and pulling him in. All the anguish of the last few days mounted into a tidal wave that overtook his current physical hurts and swept off his self-control. "Danny… Danny…" He sobbed into Danny's neck, crying out from desperate fear and frustration and pure, primal pain. "_Danny_!"

Then he felt Danny stiffen.

All the emotions ebbed instantly, forced back into their little box with a tight lid called _control. _Chris had to force himself to stop crying and release Danny, who hesitantly sank back to a kneeling position in front of Chris. "What… what are you doing here?"

Danny tried to give a quirky grin, and it failed. "Saving your sorry butt, bu…buddy."

Chris took in Danny again – pale, shaky, breathless, deprived - and swore. "Danny, you're sick! You were unconscious-You just _woke up_. Can you even stand?"

"Not long," Danny confessed, and the slight twitch of a smile was genuine. That almost made Chris' heart stop. "But Cathy's grandpa said… he said you were captured. I couldn't stay in that stupid bed even when they tried to make me."

Chris' vision kept tilting, making it harder to keep his thoughts straight. "And…you came here to rescue me?"

"Honestly… we're not to that point yet." Danny's eyes roved over him, taking in the ruined buster armor and torn clothing, bruised skin and blood running down his face and arm. "Oh… crap. We're screwed."

As if to agree with him, his A-scan went off. Danny drew it out, but didn't have time to check before the portal opened behind them and an alien yell echoed in the holding cell.

The Zerellian advanced, the sharp feathered tentacles extended. Chris wanted to shove Danny out of the way, knowing neither of them could even fight, but Danny planted one hand on either side of Chris' head against the wall and braced himself.

Chris stared at Danny's eyes, locked on his own. He could feel their breaths, his own slow drawl mingling with Danny's pants, strangely chilled against his cheeks.

Chris saw the tentacle in his side vision. "Danny-" he gasped out. Danny flinched.

But the tendril carefully wrapped around his waist. Both their eyes opened wide as Danny was lifted. Chris' brain connected long enough to flash back to Danny disappearing into the worm's mouth, his own screams echoing off the protecting bubble-net -

Chris staggered to his feet, ignoring the shooting pain up his leg. "Let him go!" But he was ignored as the alien-…

"Is that thing _sniffing_ you?" he demanded in disbelief.

Danny shoved both hands against the alien's face, trying to distance himself from what seemed to be its nose trying to nuzzle his chest. "I don't-_can a worm purr_?!"

Chris struggled to grasp Danny's A-scan and activate it, thumbing through the settings. The readings came off as… _pleased._ The other readings started to come up as the Zerellians gathered – around another, smaller alien reading.

Chris lowered the A-scan in shock, staring at the place where the abnormal reading had come from. "_Danny_?" He distantly recalled something Cathy had relayed to him from her grandfather. "Danny, they're… they think you're one of _them_."

"Great! Terrific! Just get them off!" Danny screeched as he struggled to free himself.

The door blasted open, and Sam's strong voice called out, "_Chris_!" then "_Danny_?!"

Chris' brain decided it had enough of this weird dream and shut off. Chris' knees buckled and he went down, feeling vaguely annoyed that Cathy's weird gibberish interrupted Danny's voice yelling his name frantically, pleading-

The voice followed him into the dark.

**To Be Continued**

_Author's Note: There actually was a scene between the last chapter and the beginning of this one, but my friend pointed out it wasn't great. So it got cut._

_Anyways, thanks to Xiaolin101 again for the messages. She's currently the only reason I'm updating more frequently during school... hm._

_A question posed to me: Why Chris/Danny? Cause. The way I got introduced to MBC was my friend and I were flipping cartoon channels, and the screen said my name. So I stopped and we watched it. The character had my personality and name, right down to the scar on his eyebrow. My friend said it freaked her out how similar it was. So I watched and loved it. And Chris kind of reminds me of my boyfriend._

_But I tried to keep an even balance between the 'missions' of the MBC and the development in character... cause relationships, ANY relationship especially outside the standard heterosexual lifestyle, are HARD to develop._


	12. Chapter 12

**Far Away – Chapter Twelve**

Chris was almost relieved when Danny's voice faded away to beeping. It had been wavering back and forth between dream-Danny's voice teasing him with promises that never happened and angry-Danny's voice yelling at him. It broke him.

So the monotonous beeping was welcome. At least, until it got annoying. It sounded like the A-scan got stuck. Great, Chris would have to debug it. He moved to draw it out, but his arm felt strange and heavy.

Chris winced and tried to open his eyes, thick and scratchy. He knew he had been crying in his sleep again.

"Chris? Are you awake?" Sam's voice spoke over the A-scan's beep. He made a noise in response as something nagged at his memory. He had dropped his A-scan, hadn't he?

The memories came back in a flash.

Chris jerked up, but Sam's hand gently pressed against his good shoulder. "It's okay Chris, it's okay! You're in the hospital!"

Chris blinked his heavy eyes for a moment, rubbing at them with his now-bandaged hand. Ah. He recognized the ugly color scheme.

"Sam?" he croaked. His throat hurt, and after his hand quested, he felt the bandages there too.

"Is he all here now?" Cathy's cheery voice piped in. Sam smiled.

"All here, I think."

"What?" Chris asked, puzzled.

"You kept crying out in your sleep, Chris." Chris had to make an effort to turn his head to try and see Cathy – who was sitting on the foot of the occupied second bed in the room.

"Danny!"

"He's okay Chris." Sam caught him before he tried to lunge from the bed. "He's just asleep this time. He ran away from the hospital to come after you when Mr. Smith told him what happened, and he wasn't anywhere near feeling well enough to attempt walking."

Chris gazed at Danny, relief mixing with recalled pain. He didn't want to think about it. "What happened? How did we get out of there?"

Sam fidgeted uneasily, then looked to Cathy. "Well…" Cathy stretched a leg over to Chris' bed, then the rest of her body followed. "Apparently, that Zerellian jelly in Danny? It's all fused now. It's part of him. So the Zerellians smelled it and since its motherworm jelly they obeyed him."

That didn't process well. "What?" Chris asked blankly.

"Well, the worker worms thought that yo…" she hesitated and looked to Sam.

"They thought you had stolen the motherworm and hurt her cause you were scanning the area and 'threatening' the jelly," Sam explained. "They thought you were threatening Danny and were going to… well anyways, Danny yelled at them to stop and they did."

"So we figured we could order them to let us go, and make peace with the Nubillians – which by the way, are Zerellians with armor," Cathy said cheerfully. "So the motherworm is being taken care of, the warship is preparing to leave, and Grandpa is really proud of us!"

"And I missed all this?" Chris asked. "Wow, being unconscious sucks."

He sat for a moment as he thought over all the new information and Cathy chattered on. So, everything was tucked neatly away and happy endings for the aliens.

"What about Danny?" Chris suddenly asked, looking at the boy in the other bed. He could feel pain starting to mount somewhere inside. "What's going to happen to _him_?"

Sam frowned. "I'm not really sure," she confessed, wrinkling her brow. "He's got that jelly all over inside him now. It's… permanent."

Chris swallowed hard to suppress whatever was rising in his throat to say. He didn't want to voice his fears. Danny just slept on, tucked away under another electric blanket. The beeping had turned out to be _his_ health monitor, gauging his temperature. Even with the blanket, the readout was incredibly low for a human.

Danny wasn't all human. Not anymore. But as Chris looked at him, he was still _Danny._ Still the boy he had fallen hopelessly and utterly, head-over-heels, completely lost his mind in love with.

And he had lost him.

He was awake. Hell, he was _alive_. The most precious person in Chris' world was alive and would be okay, if a little different. His sun was back, and yet… Everything felt so much colder and darker. Because his sun was far away now.

He remembered what he had promised himself before – he would stay only as long as Danny needed him. The sun would be just fine without him.

_He doesn't need me anymore._

Cathy and Sam looked confused for a moment and Chris realized he had spoken that last thought out loud. He barely kept his fingers wrapped around his self control as he excused himself to the adjoining bathroom. He ignored that a majority of his body was in bandages, including his foot being back into a brace. It didn't matter as he staggered to the bathroom. Their pain didn't register as he shut the door behind him and locked it…

Then everything shattered.

**To Be Continued...**

_Author's Note:  
_

_"Angel of Broken Hearts" seems to be Chris' theme song for this...  
Are we ever going to see Danny's side in this story? Uh, no. Real life does not come with omniscience. And we all know Cathy's theme is "Pop Goes the Weasel" on endless repeat._

_Anyways. yeah.__ So, votage. Sequel: yay or nay._


	13. Chapter 13

**Far Away - Chapter Thirteen**

"Pull yourself together." Chris splashed water on his face, trying to wipe away the tearstains and swollen cheeks and red eyes. "You can handle this."

The Chris in the mirror didn't look convinced. Actually, he just looked like crap. Bandages and tear stains and a face that just couldn't smile.

"Chris?" Sam's hesitant call through the door made him try to set his face. It was a struggle just to keep the corners of his mouth from crumpling into a sob. Yet somehow, he walked out of the bathroom with his back straight and looked right at Sam and Cathy as he drew in a breath, then spoke with the calm of being in the eye of an emotional storm.

"I'm quitting the MBC."

Neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved. They both just stared blankly at Chris as he limped past them to the door. He looked to the boy sleeping in the other bed, unaware of the torment he caused, before steeling himself against the urge to crumple and cry again. He left the room, calmly went to the disguised nurse's station and politely requested another room. Somehow he also asked for privacy from the other MBC members and anyone else except his parents, but he wouldn't ever recall how he worded it. The room change was swift and practically silent, or at least Chris didn't hear anything. He tried not to feel anything.

He sat on his new hospital bed, staring out the window at nothing, when he finally heard Sam and Cathy kicking up a fuss in the hall. Whatever he had said to the nurse worked because they never came in. Chris still covered his ears with his pillow, trying to block their voices calling out for him. He wished he could as easily block his feelings.

He wouldn't let himself cry again.

And he kept that promise to himself, after his parents took him home and his mother kept him on bed rest for two weeks. At least, while he was awake. He woke up most days with his eyes feeling scratchy. But he stayed in his room or on the couch, trying to occupy his thoughts with anything he could. He knew the MBC members tried to sly their way up to him by bringing him school work, but a suggestion from Chris had John visiting his school to get the new assignments.

"Chris," John called as he opened the bedroom door. Chris turned from his desk strewn with computer parts. "Your teacher wanted to know how you were doing."

"Fine," Chris replied neutrally as he took the stack of papers and slid them on top of his textbooks. "Thank you."

John lingered by his desk chair, and fidgeted a bit until Chris glanced at him. "What?"

"Sam told me-"

"John," Chris warned.

"to tell you-"

"_John_…"

"that Danny's-"

"_John_!" Chris smacked the video card he had been holding on the desk, breaking it. "I don't want to hear it!"

John's face furrowed angrily. "Don't you care anymore?" he burst out. "Don't you care at all about your friends? Or your mission? You swore-"

"Of course I care!" Chris snapped. "But I can't, okay? I can't deal with any of that anymore!"

"But Chris, it's the MBC!" John looked completely shocked and devastated, like someone had told him Santa wasn't real and kicked the Easter Bunny for good measure.

Chris wanted to scream or throw something, let the hurt give away to anger and just vent it, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything except let it drizzle away back into the pit that he had sunk into. "I _know_. I just… can't." He shut his eyes and braced his head against his hands on the desk, trying to will away everything like he had been doing since he had first admitted to himself he wanted Danny to be his.

But this was so much harder, because it wasn't a denial of a what-if. This was a rejection, a past 'never' that wouldn't ever be. It hurt with a finality Chris hadn't encountered yet in his life.

"Chris, they're your friends," John said carefully. "They're worried about you. And I know you're worried about them, too."

Chris drew in a shaky breath. "Please… my head hurts. I need to be alone."

His little brother was silent for a moment, before solemnly nodding and moving to the door. "There is something I was told I have to tell you, and you would know what it meant." There was a pause as Chris didn't respond. "Cathy said the ship won't leave."

The door shut before Chris' brain finished processing. He stiffened. Why wouldn't the Zerellian ship leave? Why would it hang around for so long? What were they waiting for, a sending off party? A treaty of peace validated by the MBC?

Chris' mind raced as he tried to logically break down the possibilities, and for a moment everything else cleared from his head with a startlingly clarity Chris had been trying to achieve since his self-imposed exile from the MBC.

So he didn't notice the abrupt knocking on his door until it got annoyingly loud and Chris broke his stream of thoughts unwillingly. He frowned as he got to his feet – leg healed and fully supporting him – and went to open the door and yell at John.

He didn't expect the fist in his face.

Chris clutched his cheek, shocked and on his butt as he stared up at a very pissed-looking Danny.

"You _ass!"_ Danny yelled, green eyes narrowed, face flustered, and brown hair a mess – but Chris thought he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. "You _quit_ the MBC?!"

**To Be Continued...**

_Author's Note: School sucks._

_Thanks for sticking with us anyways.  
_


	14. Chapter 14

_Far Away – Chapter Fourteen_

"Danny, what are you doing here?"Chris struggled to his feet while holding his cheek.

"Beating some sense into my friend," Danny grumbled. "Why did you quit?"

Chris paused for a moment, looking at the reason standing in front of him. "…I just had to."

Danny's mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled to find the words he wanted. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment and turned his face away. Chris frowned and let go of his cheek.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, unable to push down the spike of worry. "You just got out of the hospital-"

"I'm fine, it doesn't matter," Danny replied quickly. Like Chris believed that for a second – he could see Danny trembling and he wondered if it was from stress or cold. "Chris, c'mon, the club's gonna need you."

Chris sighed and ran his hand through his hair while turning back to his desk. "You guys can use John to replace me."

"Chris they can't replace you!"

Chris sat down in his desk chair and picked up the first textbook off the stack. "John knows just about as much as me on computers. He's run the equipment in the clubhouse a lot-"

"But he's not you."

Someone may as well have wrapped their hand around Chris' heart and squeezed. His chest seized for a moment.

"Well, he'll have to do." Chris tried to focus on the textbook but wouldn't notice if it was upside down.

Danny was silent behind him for a minute, then sighed. Chris heard him moving behind him, and saw Danny place an envelope on top of the stack of homework. "What's that?" Chris asked, the awkwardness hard to move around.

"Something from the teacher," Danny mumbled back, turning away from Chris' desk. Chris made an agreeing noise. He heard the door opening behind him, and Danny calling, "Bye, Chris…"

"Later," Chris answered vaguely.

The door shut, and Chris buried his face into his textbook. He tried not to think, tried not to hurt. People said that the pain faded with time. Chris was just a little anxious to know the 'when' and gauge his time frame of feeling constantly like crap.

He knew eventually he would have to go back to school and face Danny every single day, as well as the other members of the Monster Buster Club. He didn't have a choice.

So he raised his head and looked at the assignment sheet for the book he held. Just focus on what he had to, and ignore everything else. He just wanted to forget it all. He didn't regret loving Danny. He couldn't make himself even wish he never had. He just wanted it to end now.

Two extremely boring packets of paper and an hour later, Chris picked up the envelope and opened it, expecting to see some printed copy of a standard letter about missing so many classes and make-up work. He wasn't expecting to see the blocky handwriting of his secret crush, extreme eraser burn and several lines so heavily crossed out he couldn't read them at all.

He read the first few lines a bit carelessly, until he ran across one that made his heart stop: _You have to go back to the MBC, because it needs more than two members._

Chris gripped the page so tightly it almost ripped as he reread the letter, his eyes speeding over words that caused his gut to wrench until he came to the two cruelest words that stopped his heart:

_Goodbye, Chris._

Before he knew it, the letter was crammed into his pocket and his feet flew down the staircase. He plowed straight into John coming up the stairs.

"Chris! You're out of your room!" John looked amazed as Chris struggled to shove his little brother off his chest.

"John! Did you know?" he yelled angrily.

"Know what?" John asked blankly before he hit the railing.

"That Danny was _leaving_! On that _ship!_"

John's eyes got huge as Chris stumbled to his feet. "Mr. Smith said he was using his plants to make some sort of memory-erasing stuff for Danny's mom, but Chris, honest I-"

Chris didn't hear anything after that, already down the stairs and out the door. He reached for his MBC comm to call but forgot it was buried under his mattress. So he just ran, feet racing and heart pounding and praying it wasn't too late.

He hit Cathy's street and wouldn't even slow down to avoid Mr. Smith's plants, and almost ran into Sam who cried out, "Chris!"

She grabbed his arms and his momentum caused them both to twist. "Where is he?" Chris demanded, barely any air in his lungs.

"The Zerellian ship's south of the park and they're leaving soon! I was going to use the shuttles to go get you-you have to stop them!"

By then they were both running for the clubhouse, and Chris yelled, "I know!" as they plunged into the loading dock and onto the seat of their shuttles. His engine flared and Chris blasted off. The letter seemed to burn through his pocket as Danny's written words rang in his head, along with the memory of being turned away.

"_What the hell was that you sick-"_

"Chris!" Sam's voice cut in through the on-board comm. "You have to tell him, Chris!"

Chris wanted to grimace as his thrusters blasted at full tilt. "I can't-"

"You _have _to!"

"But when I kissed him, he called me-he-" When Chris faltered Sam looked like she would smack him if she could.

"He didn't call you anything!"

"But-"

"He didn't! He doesn't even _remember_ waking up! Chris, that's your HEAD getting in the way! Just _tell him how you feel_!"

Chris gritted his teeth and clenched his controls as Sam swore and yelled something about the take-off countdown.

His shuttle slowed abruptly and Chris emergency-ejected, blasting through the secret opening to the tunnel in the park. He could feel the thrum of the hidden ship's engines and took off running, his legs screaming at him in pain but not as loudly as his heart when he saw Danny standing beside Mr. Smith, Cathy, the hologram of the galactic leader, and a Zerellian.

"_DANNY!"_

Danny turned, his face frozen in complete surprise for the two seconds before Chris hit him full throttle and both boys tackled the ground.

"You idiot!" Chris reared up over Danny and drew his fist back, unable to hold the sheer frustration and pain that had been building since forever at bay as it turned into anger. Danny only looked shocked at the first blow, before flipping him over and punching back himself.

"Who are you calling idiot, idiot?!"

"You were going to _leave_? Without telling me, moron?!"

"I _tried_, you pimple-farming prick!"

Sam ran up beside Cathy, and the group just stared at the two boys wrestling on the grass. "Well… in all the outcomes I imagined, this wasn't one of them."

"Is this was human boys normally do?" Cathy asked. The Zerellian made noises, and Mr. Smith's handheld translator beeped out his question.

"But the child is one of us now."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, hush. He's still mostly human. The parts that count."

"Exactly!" Chris snapped before pinning Danny down to the ground. "Just because you've got some alien jelly crap in you doesn't mean you have to leave with them!"

"I wasn't leaving because of that, you stupid-…stupid!"

Chris stopped as he looked at Danny's face, and saw the tears starting in his eyes. "Then…why were you leaving?!"

"Because of you!" Danny blurted out. "I'm leaving because of _you_!"

"What…" Chris relaxed his hold, and Danny bucked him off and planted himself on top.

"After… after this happened-" Danny just flung a hand out to the Zerellian as an explanation, "You wouldn't come _near _me! I have to leave!"

"What are you talking about?" Chris demanded, staring up at Danny's wide and watery eyes, both their faces red and their chests heaving from the fist-fight. "I'm not staying away from you because of that!"

"The what's wrong with me Chris, that you don't want to be around me anymore? That you quit the MBC?"

"Nothing's wrong with you! Nothing! I love you!"

The night suddenly went dead quiet. Chris' breath caught in his chest, Danny didn't breathe, and the rest of the world might as well have disappeared.

"You…what?" Danny's eyes were wide and unreadable.

"I. Love. You." Chris covered his face with his arm, unable to look at Danny while he said it. "I have for so long. Since before the MBC. I couldn't…I couldn't stand being around you anymore because I love you so much." Danny wasn't speaking, wasn't moving - so Chris just let his mouth babble on. "I thought you hated me because of it. I thought it would be better if I just left-"

Danny's weight shifted, and he heard Danny yelp. Chris removed his arm to see the Zerellian had lifted Danny off his chest. "Put me down!" Danny yelled, hammering his hands against the worm's grasp. "Put me down now!"

Chris lurched to his feet as the worm headed to his ship with Danny in tow. "No-"

Cathy leapt in the way and yelled something in the Zerellian gibberish, translated by Mr. Smith's gadget a second later for Chris to understand, "Wait! This one claimed that one as his! By your laws, they have to stay together!"

The worm stopped as Chris did too, and saw Danny's face turn bright red. "What?"

Cathy stamped her foot angrily and looked at Danny. "If you don't tell him, then I will!"

Danny's face just got redder, but he hit the Zerellian's limb again. "Put me down, now." The worm hesitantly obeyed, and set Danny on his feet right in front of Chris.

"What?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"Well, Chris, I…" Danny couldn't meet his eyes, "I…Iloveyoutoo."

"_What?" _

Danny drew in a deep breath then looked fiercely up at Chris, before firmly declaring, "I love you, too."

The moment held still, before the rush of relief flooded Chris and threatened to spill out his eyes. "Really?" he breathed, his hand unsteadily reaching for Danny.

Danny softly laughed in a relieved, gentle breath. "Y-yeah." And his hand raised and met Chris'.

Then words failed Chris to express his utter happiness, as he gathered Danny's trembling body up in his arms and cried into his neck. Danny whispered soft reassurances, promises Chris had always dreamed of but never believed to actually hear, until Danny began to cry himself. The two had slid to the ground at some point, and just held each other. Somewhere behind them, Mr. Smith was talking, but neither could hear what he was saying.

Cathy finally squealed and wrapped her arms around them both and Chris and Danny laughed as Sam joined in as well.

"You knew!" Chris accused Cathy, who just grinned.

"Hey, I knew about you!" Sam pointed out, and Danny laughed at that.

They were cut off as the Zerellian ship decided to finally take off, and the four watched as it sailed off for the stars. "They just… left?" Chris asked, confused.

"They were pretty set on taking Danny with them," Sam added, and Chris tightened his hold around Danny.

"By their law, any 'mother worm' has to be taken care of," Mr. Smith looked self-important as he explained. "Danny has the mother worm jelly in him, so they wanted to take him back so he was cared for. I simply told them that Chris will care for Danny."

Chris smiled at Mr. Smith, then looked at Danny. "Well, somebody's gotta look after 'the Danny' here."

"Hey!" Danny protested.

"My Danny?" Chris cautiously offered instead.

Danny smiled at him. "Your Danny."

Chris clutched Danny to him again, burying his face in Danny's hair and feeling his heartbeat. This was so much better than any dream Chris ever had. Every broken moment vanished, and all he felt was Danny's sunlight inside him.

"Don't ever leave me," he whispered.

"Never. I'll never be far away," Danny smiled back, and raised himself up to catch Chris' lips with his own in a kiss that spoke of something far better than dreams.

_To Be Concluded..._

_Author's Note:  
_

_So 'Far Away' comes to a close. I do have almost a whole story planned out for the 'epilogue', but as mentioned before it would have more adult situations and ideas and take place in "Far Away"'s future... so at the moment, I'm not writing it. Instead, we get just the short and sweet chapter epilogue._

_'Far Away' is titled after the song by NickelBack. I suppose I should have said that at some point._

_Thank you all to my loyal readers and to everyone who commented! You were the reason I kept writing. *bows*_

_Now, on to the epilogue!  
_


	15. Epilogue

_Far Away - Epilogue_

_This time, this place_

_Misused, mistakes_

_Too long, too late_

_Who was I to make you wait_

_Just one chance, just one breath_

_Just in case there's just one left_

_Cause you know, you know, you know-_

_On my knees I'll ask_

_Last chance for one last dance_

_Cause with you I'd withstand_

_All of hell to hold your hand_

_I'd give it all, I'd give for us_

_Give anything but I won't give up_

_Cause you know, you know, you know-_

_I love you_

_I loved you all along_

_I miss you_

_Been far away for far too long_

_I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go_

_Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore_

"You'd think Mr. Smith would realize that we need bigger suits after three years!"

Chris smiled as he heard Sam continue to grumble, Cathy and Danny openly laughing at her. Chris placed the alien vial into the storage and let the door shut behind him.

"-didn't think it would melt the stupid thing."

"Well Danny, that's why you shouldn't use the ray gun to heat up your pop tarts."

Chris raised his eyebrow as he stepped up behind Danny, now standing several inches taller than the brunette. "You did what now?" Chris asked in a scolding tone. Danny just tilted his head back up at him and grinned before sticking out his tongue.

"Is that a threat or an invitation?"

"Take it either way you like!"

"Okay, if you two are going to start getting all PDA, you can get out," Sam snapped as she tried to struggle with her buster armor before giving up and morphing out of it.

Cathy started to rattle off about Rhapsodia again, although by now everyone was pretty sure they were experts on the place from her stories. Chris laughed as Sam threw her jacket at Cathy, and slipped into his own while Danny morphed out of his buster armor.

Chris snagged Danny's jacket off the chair where it had been throw and held it out to the boy. Danny rolled his eyes but slid his arms inside. "See you later guys," Chris called over his shoulder as Danny zipped the jacket up.

"Later!" Danny added as he slipped under Chris' arm holding the clubhouse door open for him. Chris followed and Danny smiled up at him once they were outside.

Chris smiled back and took Danny's hand, then frowned at the cold fingers. "Danny…" he scolded lightly.

Danny smiled sheepishly as Chris intertwined their fingers and buried both their hands in his own jacket pocket. "Your other hand?" he asked.

"Not as cold. This one had to hold the blaster," Danny replied with a shrug. Chris sighed.

"Come on, we should get you home and warmed up."

"Actually…" Danny hesitated, and his face tinged a bit red. Chris looked at him, interested. "I kind of told my mom… I was sleeping at your place tonight."

"But my parents aren't home."

"I know." Danny's cheeks became a deeper red and he squirmed a bit. Realization kicked Chris' brain into action as Danny suddenly added, "If you don't want me to-"

"No, no." Chris stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and smiled at the green eyed boy. "I'd love for you to." He brushed Danny's bangs aside and gently pressed his lips against Danny's cool forehead. Danny shivered.

"You okay?" Chris asked automatically.

"I'm…I'm cold." Danny replied a bit lamely.

Which got him wrapped up in a blanket and tucked in as soon as Chris could drag him to his house. Danny struggled to free his hands as Chris came in with hot chocolate. "You didn't have to burrito me," Danny grumbled as he worked his arm free and squirmed a bit more while Chris turned on the TV and started the movie.

Chris smiled as he settled next to Danny and gave him one of the mugs. "Well if you're not going to take care of _yourself_…"

Danny finally worked a corner of the blanket free from around him and tossed it across Chris. "Shut up," he grumbled, but snuggled up into Chris' side and sipped at the hot cocoa.

Chris wrapped his arm around Danny and pulled him in closer, resting his cheek on Danny's head. He loved this feeling; Danny's body pressed against his, one leg casually tossed across his, Danny's clean earth smell in his nose, and the slow steady beat of Danny's heart against his side.

"Chriiis…" Danny's voice brought him back from where he was mentally wandering. "You're going to spill your cocoa."

"Oh." Instead of drinking it, he set it aside and slipped his hand under the blanket to catch Danny's free one and intertwine their fingers. They just said in silence, the completely ignored movie continuing in muted tones as Danny finished his cocoa and set the mug aside.

The warmth came back in Danny's hand, and Chris ghosted the back of his fingers against Danny's neck to check his body temperature. He was back to normal warmth, but Danny shivered deliciously anyways. Chris did it again, then played with the hair at the base of Danny's neck. Danny looked at him with big green eyes, a smile gently playing on his lips before he leaned forward and they met Chris'.

Chris could taste the hot chocolate, pulling Danny in closer and shifting their bodies about so Danny laid against his chest. Danny's hands clutched at Chris' shirt while Chris ran his hand down Danny's back to slide up again and tease the bare flesh of Danny's lower back.

Then the door opened as "Hey guys whatcha doing" was asked. Danny was off Chris in half a second, tumbled next to him.

"Dammit, John!" Chris struggled to keep some of the blanket over himself to hide. "Couldn't you _knock_?"

"Probably," came John's smart-aleck reply. Danny snorted a bit of muffled laughter and Chris wanted to growl at him.

"Get out!"

"Make me!"

Chris lunged for his little brother. By the time Chris finally shut and locked his bedroom door, the moment had passed and the mood was broken by Danny rolling on the bed, laughing. "Forgot he lived here too?" he teased between gasps for air.

"Oh shut up." Chris clambered back on the bed and pushed Danny with his leg, face flushed with embarrassment. He wasn't in the mood to continue their snog-session anymore, so he looked up at the forgotten movie and frowned. "I have no idea what's going on now."

Danny chuckled and reached for the remote to restart it. He buried himself into Chris' chest and sighed, as if they silently agreed not to go back to their previous activities – at least not while John was in the house. Chris wrapped his arms around Danny, one hand sneaking into the brunette's hair to gentle play with the soft strands.

"Hey Chris?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

Chris paused, then looked down at Danny until the other boy looked up. "For what?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Well I'm sorry too."

"For?"

"For taking so long."

Danny shook his head, rubbing against Chris' chest. "Me too, then."

Chris snorted a half mumbled 'you should be' and Danny stuck out his tongue before looking back to the movie. Chris' fingers moved gently over Danny's hair and neck, blissfully enjoying everything about this moment of true peace.

"Hey Danny?"

"Hm?"

Chris leaned down and whispered in Danny's ear. Danny looked at him, and gave Chris one of his brilliant smiles, whispering back before shifting upward and capturing his lips in a tender kiss.

"_I love you, too."_

_So far away_

_So far away_

_Been far away for far too long_

_I wanted, I want you to stay_

_Cause I needed, I need to hear you say:_

_I love you!_

_I've loved you all along_

_I forgive you for being away for far too long_

_So keep breathing cause I'm not leaving you anymore_

_Believe it, hold on to me and never let me go_

_Keep breathing cause I'm not leaving you anymore_

_Believe it, hold on to me and never let me go_

_Keep breathing_

_Hold on to me_

_And never let me go…_


End file.
